Lock for closing and opening a zipper



Jan. 28, 1969 v. HYTONEN 3,423,802

LOCK FOR'CLOSING AND OPENING A ZIPPER Filed Dec. 27, 1965 United StatesPatent US. Cl. 24-201 7 Claims Int. Cl. A441) 19/24 ABSTRACT OF THEDISCLOSURE A zipper including elongated ridgelike male and femalemembers having a general U-shaped cross section with a narrow neckportion. A slide lock is adapted to transversely spread the femalemember and transversely compress and insert the male member into thefemale member.

This invention concerns a lock for closing and opening a zippercomprising two members, each made up of a thin uniform metal strip, theopen loop-like ridge in the male member, extending over the entirelength of the strip, the male member being further provided withtransversal slits. or cuts and being brought into a corresponding ridgein the female member by means of a lock having a groove for the membersrunning through the body of the lock and having a handle for pulling thelock in both directions.

Zippers with the inner edge of the fastening ribbon of both membersprovided with metal hooks in succession at a distance from each otherhave one marked disadvantage in that part of the lock extends beneaththe zipper, for instance, into that piece of cloth to which the zipperis fastened. Thus, in opening and closing the zipper, the lock willeasily rub against the cloth causing wear and even might get stuckbetween the lock and the members so that the lock wouldnt move in eitherdirection. Now, if attempts are made to move the lock by force the hookswill turn diagonal, the zipper will break, and the piece of clothattached thereto might get torn.

It is also known to use a lock in zippers made up of two members ofplastic, the female member being provided with a continuous longitudinalhollow for the closed ridge of the male member, which lock has means forspreading the walls forming the hollow and for pushing the ridge of themale member into the hollow, for drawing the hollow away from the ridge,the lock having no parts extending below the two members of the zipper.

0n the other hand, this invention concerns a lock of a correspondingtype of zipper, said lock being used in such zippers where both membersconsist of a thin uniform metal strip provided with an open loop-likeridge along the entire length of the strip. The ridge of the male memberis provided with transversal slits or cuts in succession at a distancefrom each other to accomplish flexibility. In order to close the zipperthe ridge of the male member is pressed into the ridge of the femalemember through its open neck-portion by moving the lock, so that theridges are resiliently locking intoeach other.

The object of this invention is to eliminate the disadvantages presentedabove and the invention is mainly characterized in that the body of thelock, which at no point extends below both halves of the zipper, isprovided at the front end of the groove mentioned, relative 3,423,802Patented Jan. 28, 1969 to the closing direction with a slit at the sideof the groove slanting downwardly in the longitudinal direction of thebody of the lock and which guides the free edge of the ridge of thefemale member by force in such a way that the neck-portion is opened atthe front end of the groove where the cross-section of the groove isenlarged, and that a tongue with its upper surface slanting bothlongitudinally and transversally is provided in the enlarged part of thegroove at the lower edge of the lock in order to bring the ridge of themale member through the neck-portion mentioned into the ridge of thefemale member. The tongue extends inwardly at the neck-portion of thegroove about as far as to the edge of the neckportion of thegroove-extension, and presses against the neck-portion of the ridge ofthe male member restricting the ridge of the male member in the sidedirection and pushing it into the ridge of the female member through theopened neck-portion by moving the lock in the closing direction. Thetongue also raises by means of its slanting upper surface the ridge ofthe female member away from the ridge of the male member, so that themembers separate from each other on moving the lock in the openingdirection. The groove after the enlarged section continues morerestricted in the shape of the cross-section of the ridge-portion of thefemale member in the unopened position.

Because no part of the lock of the zipper, according to the invention,extends beneath the zipper, the lock does not rub and wear the clothwhich cannot get caught between the lock and the members.

The invention is explained further with reference to the encloseddrawings, in which FIG. 1 shows from above the female member of a zipperusing a lock according to the invention for closing and opening,

FIG. 2 shows a section taken on the ine 11-11 in FIG. 1,

FIG. 3 shows from below a lock according to the invention,

FIG. 4 shows a section taken on the line IV-IV in FIG. 3,

FIG. 5 shows a section taken on the line V-V in FIG. 3,

FIG. 6 shows the lock from the side, but with the tongue out along theline VIVI in FIG. 3,

FIG. 7 shows a cross-section of the lock and the zipper at the beginningof closing or at the end of opening, and

FIG. 8 shows a cross-section of the closed zipper.

According to the FIGURES 1, 2, 7 and 8 the zipper consists of a femalemember 1 including fastening ribbon 1a, a male member 2 includingfastening ribbon 211, as well as a lock for closing and opening thezipper. Both members 1 and 2 are preferably made from a long and thinstrip of steel, copper-tin, or copper-nickel alloy, cut to pieces of thedesired length for the zipper. As seen in the figures mentioned above,the female member 1 has been bent longitudinally in such a way, that aridge 3 is formed along the centre with a cross-section shaped as aloop. The cross-section of this ridge resembles the longitudinal sectionof a press button, so that a loop consisting of a neck-portion 4 isformed. The main portion 5 of the loop in the case presented is notsymmetrical in relation to the centre line through the neck-portion, butits outer edge is somewhat more dilated than the inner edge.

Naturally, the main portion 5 can also be symmetrical. The ridge 3 isperforated or punched over the entire length of the strip to obtaintransversal slits or cuts 6 in succession at a distance from each otherand the outer edge is provided with extensions or teeth 7 as well as abend 8 on the inner edge. The strip is fastened to the fastening ribbon1a, usually made of cloth, by means of the teeth 7, which are clinchedon the opposite side of the ribbon in such way that the clinched part 9will surround the edge of the fastening ribbon almost entirely, as bestseen in FIG. 2.

The male member 2 of the zipper corresponds chiefly to the femalemember 1. It is made of the same kind of metal strip and is fixed by itsouter edge to the ribbon 2a in the same way as is female member 1. Slitsor cuts corresponding to the slits or cuts 6 have also been perforatedor punched over the length of the ridge at the centre of the strip. Thedifference with respect to the female member 1 is that the main part 10of the loop is smaller, the neck-portion 11 is narrower and longer, andthe inner edge 13 furnished with the bend 12 is longer than thecorresponding parts of the loop of the female member 1, so that the loopof the male member 2 fits into that of the female member 1. Otherwisethese loops chiefly correspond to each other as far as shape isconcerned in that they both may be symmetrical or in the same wayunsymmetrical with respect to the centre line through the neckportion.

The closing direction of the lock is marked in the FIG- URE 3 by anarrow a, and the opening direction by an arrow b. Below that end of thelock which is going first on closing the zipper is called the front end,while the opposite end is called correspondingly the rear end. Accordingto the FIGURES 37 a groove 15 is going through the body 14 of the lock,and the upper surface of the lock has a holder 16 for a handle 17attached. The cross-section of the groove 15 at its rear end correspondsas far as shape and size is concerned to the cross-section of the femalemember, when the zipper to closed.

The groove 15 has a dilation 18 at the front end of the lock (FIGS. 5and 7), one edge of which is rectangular and extends to the front end ofthe body. The edge of this dilation forms an inclined surface 19,slanting downwardly from the edge 14 of the body as well as downwardlyin the longitudinal direction to unite with the lower surface 20 of thebody at about midway through the lock. At about the same place therectangular part of the dilation 18 is changing its form to thatpresented in FIG. 4. A tongue 21 attached to that side surface of thebody of the lock were the rectangular part of the dilation 18 is locatedis directed from the side of the body to the centre, and from the frontend of the body towards the rear. This tongue reaches rearwardly toabout the middle of the dilation 18 as a narrow extension, and inwardlyto about the edge of the lower part of the groove 15. The lower surfaceof the tongue 21 is in the same plane as the lower surface of the body14 whereas its upper surface 22 is situated at a distance from theslanting surface 19 of the body so that a slit 23 is formed betweenthese surfaces. The inclined upper surface 22 of the tongue 21 isslanting parallel to the slanting surface 19 both in the longitudinaland the transversal directions.

The lock according to the invention functions in the following manner.When the lock is fitted to its place at the end of the zipper, thefemale and male members take the position in the rear part of the lockshown in FIG. 8, at which the zipper is closed at this point of thelock. Near the front part of the lock the halves are taking the positionshown in FIG. 7, at which the free edge of the female member providedwith a bend 8 has pushed into the slit 23 and the neck-portion 4 of thismember has opened up wide. According to FIG. 7 the tongue 21 hasrestricted the ridge 10 of the inner half in the side direction and haspushed it beyond the open neck-portion 4 of the outer half into theridge 3 of this half. Now, if the lock is drawn from the handle 17 inthe direction of the arrow a, the edge of the female member providedwith a bend 8 moves between the inclined surfaces 22 and 19 in the slit23 under the lock, the ridge 3 of the female member sinking on top ofthe ridge 10 of the inner half. At the same time the dilation 18 ischanging shape into that of the groove 15. This is continuously forcingthe ridges of the members 1 and 2 into oneanother to the position shownin FIG. 8. When the lock is drawn to the opposite end of the zipper,this will close over its entire length.

The zipper is opened by drawing the lock in the direction indicated bythe arrow b. Now the tongue 21 is restricting the ridge 10 of the malemember 2 and is raising the ridge 3 of the female member 1 so much apartfrom the ridge 10 of male member 2 that the neck-portion 4 of femalemember 1 in FIG. 7 rises above the right-hand dilation of the ridge 10of male member 2. Now, as the members are being released from the frontpart of the lock, the ridges cannot enter each other and are separatingas the lock is drawn in the direction of the arrow a.

Naturally, the invention is not restricted to the working examplepresented above, but it can be varied considerably within the scope ofthe invention as far as details are concerned. Thus, for example, thetongue detaching the halves from each other may also be made in oneblock together with the body the lock.

I claim:

1. A zipper for connecting the edges of adjacent sheets of materialcomprising:

a resilient female member carried by the edge of one of the sheets to beconnected, said member extending the length thereof and defining a ridgehaving a generally U-shaped cross section with a reduced width neckportion adjacent the open side thereof;

a resilient male member carried by the edge of the other one of thesheets to be connected, said male member coextensive with said femalemember and substantially conforming in cross section thereto; and

a lock slidable on said female member along the length thereof, saidlock having means for transversely deforming said male member and forinserting said deformed male member into said female member, theresiliency of said inserted male member causing the transverse expansionthereof into firm mating engagement with said female member.

2. A zipper as set out in claim 1 wherein the ridge of said male memberhas a plurality of spaced slits extending transversely thereacross.

3. A zipper as set out in claim 2 wherein the ridge of said femalemember has a plurality of spaced slits extending transverselythereacross.

4. A zipper as set out in claim 1 wherein said lock ingludes means fortransversely expanding said female meml 61.

5. A zipper as set out in claim 4 wherein said lock is grooved along thelower side thereof, said groove conforming in cross section to saidfemale member from one end of said lock to a point intermediate the endsthereof, said groove being enlarged at the other end of said lock, saidlock having means for reducing the width of the neck portion of saidmale member and for increasing the width of the neck portion of saidfemale member, the effect of said means decreasing from said enlargedend to said point intermediate the ends of said lock.

6. A zipper as set out in claim 5 wherein the ridges of said male andfemale members have a plurality of spaced slits extending transverselythereacross.

7. A zipper as set out in claim 6 wherein the means for reducing thewidth of the neck portion of said male member and for increasing thewidth of the neck portion of said female member includes a tonguereaching rearwardly from the enlarged end of said groove forsubstantially one quarter the length of said lock and inwardly not lessthan the edge of said groove, said tongue having an upper surfaceinclined upward from said groove toward 8,423,802 5 6 the near side ofsaid lock, said lock being open above said FOREIGN PATENTS upper surfacefor the passage of said female member. 636,072 4/1950 Great BritainReferences Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 5 2,141,900 12/1938 Brown. l-XR.

BERNARD A. GELAK, Primary Examiner.

